The Unchanging God | James Dolezal

for my third and final session i've been assigned the doctrine of god's immutability the unchanging god of all creation and redemption uh a doctrine that should be precious to you and constantly in your heart and on your mind for it's in this reality of the unchanging god that our hope is grounded and rooted malachi 3 6 says i the lord do not change even if malachi 3 6 had not said that i could say if god is simple and if god is impassable necessarily he does not change it's entailed in the full and pure actuality of his divine being that sounds abstract but it's also the very thing that grounds and roots your confidence in his word and in his promises classical christian theism which i just like to refer to as broad meat and potatoes orthodoxy the stuff we should all believe just because we're christians is deeply devoted to the absoluteness of god with respect to his existence his essence and his activity nothing about god is derived or caused to be if there's a theme that i can circle back to again and again it's that we we exercise our minds to push out any thoughts that god is a made to be thing we need to maintain that absolute creator creature distinction as soon as that distinction becomes porous as soon as we begin to relativize the divine being our hope in his promises is disabled nothing about god's being that is derived or caused to be there's nothing behind god or outside of him that could increase alter or augment his infinite fullness of being and felicity not romans 9 5 he is god blessed forever not god on the way to getting blessed god blessed forever for this reason then he cannot subject himself to changes now this i'm going to make a major proposition and i'm going to solicit your careful attention uh because this is the thing i want to argue and defend he cannot subject himself to changes because every change involves a cause that brings to the subject an actuality of being that the subject lacks in and of itself you did get your coffee before we started this morning right i did i that that might be bad news for you i don't know this is what we're saying every change has to have something that makes it so if i i changed positions for instance i was sitting down uh with my daughter now i'm standing in front of you there was a change i was potentially standing in front of you now i actually am standing in front of you something had to actualize that in me something had to make it so that's a cause all changes require that we be subject to whatever causes the change but if god is uncaused do you see how this goes if god is an uncaused and unmade being then there can't be that which makes god be or causes god to fill in the blank his infinite fullness of being moreover and there's another side to this not only does it require a cause it also requires you ready for this a paucity of being in the thing changed you knew that you knew that that just simply is to say if you're going to change into some state of being you had first to lack it you know what i'm after in other words i can't change locomotively at this moment just standing behind the podium you know why i can't change into this state because i already am standing behind this podium in other words i actually in other words there's no actuality to be acquired at this point i've already got it change requires a lack of actuality of being you have to be finite in order to change you have to be limited in being in order to be subject to change every change brings to you a state of actuality and being that you hitherto lacked you change your mind there's actually new thoughts in your mind that's that's a new reality you stand up that's a new position uh it's not an essential thing it doesn't make you human or less human but it does make you a standing human in other words it gives you it gives you is-ness yeah you got some his you have the is-ness of being seated right now and you can say you know say it that way that's be careful how you use that word is-ness um you are you can say i am seated you're declaring a state of being you can shed that state of being just simply by standing up uh and walking about in other words changes require on the one hand a loss of a state of being perhaps definitely an acquisition of a state of being but god is not going about acquiring states of being he just is not is not if god is wholly uncaused and self-sufficient in the plentitude of his being that he cannot be moved to some further actuality this would suggest some imperfection i don't mean moral imperfection but a an incompleteness of being in an absence of actuality and insofar as being is good goodness herman bobbing distills the claims of immutability very succinctly every change is foreign to god in him there is no change in time for he is eternal nor in location for he is omnipresent nor in essence for he is pure being let me let me put this in a kind of crass way but i think one that helps us get it his name is not i am and i'm not it's it's just i am that's what we mean pure infinite plentitude of being if you if you'll indulge me a bit sheer act of existence indulge me a little further ipsam essay subsistence yeah being itself subsisting you have being god is being okay now to john owen one of my favorites god alone hath all being in him says owen hence he gives himself the name i am he was eternally all when all things else that were made or now are or will or shall be were nothing in this state of infinite eternal being and goodness antecedent unto any act of wisdom or power without himself to give existence unto other things god was and is eternally in himself all that he will be all that he can be unto eternity creation is the effect of god but god the creator is unchanged and isn't becoming back to owen for where there is infinite being and infinite goodness there is infinite blessedness and happiness where unto nothing can be added if god is being itself then what what can he become that he isn't already back to owen god is always the same all things that are make no addition unto god no change in his state his blessedness happiness self-satisfaction as well as all of his other infinite perfections were absolutely the same before the creation of anything now a little bit for the theological framework of this before i get into a few texts that speak to immutability and the significance of it i want to consider just one other attending doctrine to help with this i want to consider the doctrine of divine austerity we've introduced this it's been referenced a few times this is a term that has sadly fallen out of our christian grammar but deserves to be rehabilitated aussaity is a is simply the statement that god is of himself or that god is the reason for himself i mentioned uh in our talk on simplicity aussaity is from the latin ah say which just means of himself or from himself not in the sense of self-caused or self-made again you have to be in order to do therefore god couldn't be the absolute first cause of himself he's just uncaused he's being itself but he is of himself in the sense that god is the reason for god all that is in god just is god nothing funds god god just is the perfect plentitude of being by which he is all that we say he is if you want another way of thinking of austerity you could just think of this as the doctrine of god's of himselfness god's of himselfness herman bothing says when we when god ascribes this austerity to himself in scripture he makes himself known as absolute being as the one who is in an absolute sense by this perfection he is at once essentially and eternally distinct from all creatures the puritan stephens by the way that is just so important what is it that makes god not a what is it that accounts for the fact that god is not a creature um god is of himself all things not god are of and from god got this that's it most fundamentally god is the sufficient reason for god god is the sufficient reason for everything not god therein lies the creator creature distinction you are not of yourself you are of or from another god is of himself stephen charnock the great english puritan god is of himself from no other he says god hath no original i love that way of saying it god hath no original god is not a perfect copy of something else god isn't based off of some blueprint of being more fundamental than himself god hath no original he hath no source god isn't from another he hath no defect he says because he was not made from nothing he hath no increase because he had no beginning he was before all things and therefore depends upon no other things maybe put it this way that which has no beginning cannot begin to be but every change every mutation is small or large a beginning to be i began to be in a new place when i walked up here on the platform if god is without beginning then he cannot begin to be otherwise at just that moment we would locate a beginning of being of some sort or another for god one clear implication then of this doctrine is that god neither derives anything from his creation nor is he the cause of himself bobbing says it's evident from the word austerity god is exclusively from himself not in the sense of being self-caused but being from eternity to eternity who he is being not becoming i want to look at one biblical text to support this doctrine of divine isolation that's in exodus chapter 3 where god reveals this this beautiful and unique name the tetragrammaton yahweh and you remember in the context at the end of chapter 2 in exodus god hears the cries we're told of his people in egypt and we're told that he heard their groaning and interestingly it doesn't say that his heart was moved or anything like that though sometimes the bible does appropriate passion language in a in an anthropomorphic way to describe god but it says here god remembered his covenant with abraham isaac and jacob and he saw the sons of israel and took notice of them it's not like god was unaware and then oh what's this moaning what's this crying oh right israel the patriarchs but the idea is that god is now attending to their concerns he comes down to moses moses has been shepherding the sheep of his father jethro for 40 years in the wilderness and he appears one day on the side of mount horeb which is also sinai and he appears in a strange way in a bush that's burning but there's more to it it's not burning up this is a theophany god appears in a flame and speaks words that moses can understand and as moses draws near god tells him to remove his sandals for the place on which he's standing his holy ground god has condescended to meet in a phenomenal temporal local way with moses through fire and through sound waves god is speaking to moses and he says i am the god of your father the god of abraham isaac and jacob then moses hid his faith in face and was afraid to look at god and then god proceeds to tell him about the affliction of his brethren down in egypt fast forward a little bit to verse 10 god says so he's informed moses of his intent to save them but then god says in verse 10 now come i will send you to pharaoh that you may bring my people the sons of israel out of egypt and moses doesn't say oh thank you i was i was born to the purple i was meant for better things i know how to conduct myself at court i'm the perfect candidate and i've just been waiting to get away from these sheep and doesn't say god i'm your man you chose well that's not what he says moses in fact professes almost anti-austerity i think one theologian calls it self-insufficiency we talk about god self-sufficiency this is self-insufficiency he says who am i that i should go to pharaoh that i should bring the sons of israel out of egypt that's the question like it was about that anyway you know what i mean who am i it's really interesting god passes over in silence the question doesn't can i say something about moses i don't the problem is not that moses lacks self-esteem moses is probably making a right assessment of himself he's just in this moment fail in this very moment failing to perceive where the strength comes from god says certainly i will be with you and this shall be a sign to you that it's i who have sent you when you've brought the people out of egypt you shall worship god at this mountain that's the first thing it says it's not about you it's about me i'm the one who is your strength and your sufficiency you you feel cast about and uncertain it's it's me i'll be the one doing this verse third verse 13. then most moses has a second question moses said behold i'm going to the sons of israel and i will say to them the god of your fathers has sent me to you now they may say to me what is his name what shall i say to them now there are a couple ways you can take this um one read of it um i think not the correct one is almost something like um the israelites the hebrews know um the secret password you know what's his name because only the hebrews know the name of the one true god and if he's legitimate he's going to know the secret name i don't think that's what's going on in a semitic culture a name is a disclosure of someone's virtues and power and character a name tells you about the one who bears it and what i think what they're really asking when they say what is his name it would be our way of saying um what is he like and the reason you ask what is he like is because the proposition here is fantastically absurd you're going to go down to pharaoh the superpower on earth at that time who is it who is who is underway in a vigorous building project building store cities who needs this labor and who is not discontent with this situation at all and you're going to go and say to him let your labor force just walk away it seems laughable and i think the people of israel are going to wonder and this is the question i think what is it about god that we should have confidence in this remarkable thing that you're saying to us what you're saying is what what is he like because you want me to have confidence in what you're saying he's told you to tell us then tell us about him what is it about god that grounds my confidence in these remarkable promises god said to moses verse 14 i am who i am or i am that i am and he said thus you shall say to the sons of israel now he abbreviates it i am or yahweh has sent me to you verse 15. god furthermore said to moses thus you shall say to the sons of israel yahweh the i am the god of your fathers the god of abraham the god of isaac the god of jacob has sent me to you this is my name forever and my memorial name to all generations this is a strange name see when i say i am i always put a little something else after that i am human i am standing i am speaking i am married i am you get what i'm after in other words all my little i ams get these little um qualifications right afterward i don't just say i mean you could say to me um are you standing and i could say i am but you've already offered the qualification standing you know what i'm after in other words all my i ams are contracted and specified by this or that or another finite state of being god's i am in this case his name is not a specified or contracted name a delimited i am-ness just i am just is not is this that or the other just is that's my name is the way the uh the way the septuagint translates it ego a me i am ha own um the being one you you could i think durham in his commentary on exodus uh renders it um i am the ising one which i told you it'd be strange if god were not strange this is strange one whose name is is okay this is this is this is what's most fundamental this is true existentialism forget john paul sartre this is true existentialism this is god who is the is by which he is now back to the now back to the context see that sounds abstractive to you in a certain way there's no way for our minds not to think about that abstractively but this is the beauty of it we have to think abstractively but his i am-ness isn't abstract it's concrete i don't have a way to speak about just is not abstractly but this is an is that subsists i told you if some essay subsistence this is the is that is in fact subsisting not an abstraction a concrete subsisting i am by the way god doesn't share this name with others he shares others of his names in a condescended way with some of his creatures even strangely the name elohim is used in scripture to talk about angels and great men in a kind of condescending and honorific way god will stoop to share certain of his names with creatures by his grace he doesn't share this one with anyone for this one he's jealous because right here lies that wherein god is utterly unlike the creature he's the i am that just is the i am the ising one now what is what's the value of this what's this supposed to do for the people of israel when they hear this name it's supposed to infuse them with unbounded confidence because here's the thing about god uh what this means is that god is not a dependent entity god's word is not as good as all the things upon which god depends god's word is as good as god's being and god just is his own being he's independent self-sufficient pure actuality and for that reason you can trust him without qualification and without reservation that's that's ausaity it distinguishes god from all false gods it distinguishes god from everything not god and it also grounds your confidence in his word now here's the point if god were subject to change if god were mutable then god would be as i said a few moments ago i am and i'm not but might be you know what i'm after actuality of being together with paucity of being that's actually composition that's how you are you are seated um and you may be bored or confused but in a short while you won't be seated and the clouds will blow away and you'll have more clarity and so you are not clear about the subject or you are not standing up but you potentially are those things really believe me you are potentially those things particularly with regard to these mysteries god invites us in walk walk diligently walk slowly walk patiently there are glorious things to behold but that's that's unactualized potentiality at this point at some degree or another for each of us okay god is not a god who is composed of actuality and potentiality there's not god who is and god who could be okay he's just i am in job 41 11 there's another way in which the scripture fortifies this doctrine of divine austerity where god says who has preceded me uh some translations say given to me but the the word literally has proceeded or gotten in front of who has preceded me that i should pay him and then god says everything under the heavens is mine the the idea is no one gets out in front of god so that he is indebted to none but if god changes then he's indebted to whatever agency produced that new actuality in him god would be indebted to whatever it was that funded or supported the change and you could say well what if god just changes himself but if god changes himself then he's composed of parts there's got to be the actualizing part and then there's got to be the other part that's not the actualizing part that receives the actuality and then simplicity collapses and then divine absoluteness collapses if god changes he's beholden to some cause of being and he's obligated to say thank you let's make one quick observation about austerity i think i was sharing this with a brother last night scripture nowhere records god giving thanks to the creature it's not because he has bad manners it's because he never stands in that sort of relation no one gives to him so you hold the door for me and i say thank you you gave me something that i needed you supplied to me what i lacked i needed an open way to pass and you supplied it to me and so i say to you thank you i say thank you to all who give me what i lack but god lacks nothing and so he doesn't say thank you doesn't mean that he doesn't love his creature doesn't mean that he does not demonstrate his pleasure upon his people it just means that he's not indebted to his people in any respect that which changes is indebted to that which supplies its new state of being to it god's glory then is not increased when we glorify him his fullness of love isn't intensified by our acts of obedience and even as we considered last night in job 35 his intrinsic hatred for sin isn't made hotter by our transgressions his manifestations in the created order of love change his manifestations of wrath upon men in place and time change but intrinsically that in virtue of which god hates sin is infinitely white hot and that and virtue of which god loves is nothing but his own being god is love the delight he manifests in repentant sinners and the wrath that he reveals against the ungodly are nothing but his own fullness of being variously disclosed with reference to particular creatures and at different times with the pure he shows himself pure psalm 18 at one of the same moment with the crooked he shows himself twisted changes in the manifestation of god yes changes in the god manifested no now to some more explicit biblical text stephen charnock again he who hath not being from another cannot but be always what he is god is the first being an independent being who has not produced of himself or of any other but by nature always hath been and therefore cannot by himself or by another be changed from what he is in his own nature god gives you your is whatever that is that you are and then the various things that you have your being in him you live move and have your being being is most fundamental movement and life and breath and all things are all the super added benefits so in addition to just being that he gives to you but if god is all say then nothing supplies being to him and therefore he cannot be changed from what he is by his own nature if god were to be changed we should immediately ask the question um from whence came this change what granted god this new actuality of being well helmus the broccoli says no one can add to or subtract anything from his being neither can anyone increase or decrease his felicity uh that's just an old-fashioned word for saying his happiness in being god his joy and being god god doesn't have moods that rise and fall now i want us to consider a few biblical texts in some context and i this was somewhat surveyish but i think the survey will in fact give us an enriched appreciation of the meaning of this divine immutability i first want to look at psalm 102 psalm 102 and uh i want to begin in verse 23 and then build up particularly to verse 27. psalm 102 verse 23 the the the psalmist prays this he has weakened my strength in the way he has shortened my days i say oh my god do not take me away in the midst of my days so this is a man this is a midlife crisis in which the psalmist thinks that he's sure he's not long for this world and he's praying oh lord preserve me from what we would call an untimely death now why ask god that's the question why ask god i mean my life is changing and looming ahead of me is a death sooner than i expected and he says oh lord you've shortened my days i said don't take me away in the midst of my days and then he says your years are throughout all generations so in other words my years are but a breath three score and ten perhaps but god's years are not like that so he's asking god to preserve his life and give him a few more years and the reason he asked god is because god is not bound by years the way that man is i don't ask a temporal creature to give me a longer life i ask a creature who isn't inhibited by time i have to come to the lord of time i have to come to the one who isn't subject to the vicissitudes of time if i'm going to ask for preservation and strength i don't look to changing things i don't look to momentary things to give me stability in my momentary existence i look to the non-momentary thing i don't hitch my w if i want stability and if i want strength i don't hitch my wagon to that which is of yesterday and gone tomorrow of old you founded the earth verse 25 and the heavens are the work of your hands even they will perish but you endure or you remain here he's talking about the cosmos which seems of all things so fixed the moon and its phases the heavenly bodies in their orbits and rotations and he says they will perish you endure all of them will wear out like a garment like this i want to focus on this very carefully like clothing you will change them and they will be changed so in this case he's saying that not only do things change but in fact the agent who produces the changes is god himself god is when we're talking about agency god is the great changer not the changed changer or if i may say the moved mover but rather the unmoved unchanged changer and mover of things including the heavenly bodies themselves you change them and they are changed so you are the lord of all mutations you are the lord of mutability and you orchestrate and ordain all mutations now here's an adversative in verse 27 a contrast nazbe translates it but you are the same unlike the things that are changed by god stands god god changes things god doesn't change himself that's the contrast here the psalmist says you change them and they are changed but you are the word is actually strange it could also be translated coming back to the exodus 3 14 passage that word can be translated you are he i don't know if some of you some of you have studied greek and sometimes you come across a word or hebrew and the word means he she it or same remember that's my flash guard memory right there he she it or same the idea is same as a statement of identity i think what the psalmist is saying is in contrast to the things that are changed you are the he the ha own the i am you could render it the same but the point is god is not like the things changed by god he's not a changing thing i want to i want to just flag one warning right now um even in our modern evangelical and calvinist circles um there has been a trend among some to say that god is not absolutely immutable he's only he's only um immutable in a certain respect but he's mutable in other respects but it's okay that he's mutable in other respects because he is and we're calvinist right he's controlling the changes he undergoes so what they've been doing is invoking sovereignty and placing sovereignty as a kind of shield of protection over a sort of novel kind of divine mutability god changes but it's okay because he's authoring his own changes god is as it were ultimately deciding and directing the mutations of his own life and since he's sovereign we can be at rest but i think this psalm explicitly rules that out i'm not imp explicitly because the contrast in verse 26 is things god changes what does god change the cosmos and all the lower creatures within them and then the adversative but you are he and the idea is if god were changed by god then he'd be like creation which is changed by god i think this idea of self-authored mutations is in fact going to run into very strong conflict with scripture and i think it will for all the good intent behind it destabilize our confidence and the promises we don't need a sovereignly controlled sort of modest mutation we need god who is the i am we need god who does not become secondly let's look at malachi 3 6 i read the passage i want to put it in a little bit of context for you malachi 3 6. in this uh in this passage the p this is very late in the uh history of israel the exiles have returned all the promises of the major prophets have not come to pass there's no there's no son of david on the throne there's no glorious sort of temple greater than solomon's and the people begin to be cynical about god in fact they are still under persian rule they are still under the authority of hostile idolaters uh and the people begin to drift away from devotion to god and in verse 17 of chapter two in malachi he says you have weary the lord with your words that you say how have we wearied him in that you say everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the lord and he delights in them or where is the god of justice this is a statement of cynicism where is the god of justice because if there were the god of justice there wouldn't be tens of millions of aborted babies god doesn't care if there was the god of justice there wouldn't be the legalization of homosexual unions because god opposes that sin where is the god of justice the temptation for the christian perhaps in any culture where the wicked thrive is perhaps yet perhaps to there are many temptations but let's talk about the theological temptation the theological temptation is to think that god is off his game that god is he was once the god of justice you remember the ten plagues and the parting of the red sea and the destruction of pharaoh's army and the and the wiping out of the idolatrous canaanites and the and the str and the striking of nadab and abyhu when they brought strange fire remember when god was zealous for his glory and now the wicked prevail and i think the underlying the undertone here is god you just aren't you aren't like you used to be you aren't the same god says in verse 6 of chapter 3 i yahweh do not change i love this next line therefore o sons of jacob you are not consumed the idea is if i were a changing god if i were as fickle and and uh shifty as you say that i am let me tell you the first thing i would have done is wipe you people out the fact that you're here and not destroyed actually demonstrates that i am not changing i'm faithful to my covenant i'm faithful to my promises and then he says in verse seven from the days of your father you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them it seems like i left you but it's really you who left me now how does this how does this look in israel's history you know what it looks like it looks like the shekinah glory cloud lee that the theophanic manifestation of god's presence and protection leaving the temple and you might think to yourself god where'd you go but that's actually just an emblematic picture of the departure of the people's hearts from god that phenomenal change is not a change in god it's the change there's a change in the phenomena the glory cloud is gone but there's not a change in god that's just a that's just a manifestation of god's holiness vis-a-vis the newfound wickedness and idolatry of the people so god says and then he says this return to me and i'll return to you it's really a beautiful statement how can god if god has no shadow of turning how can he return if god doesn't change how can he come back okay i think the answer to that is he's speaking here about his manifested covenantal presence and favor phenomenally shown to us in time and in space that consolation of his spirit and of his presence there's a change the theologians would say in god showing of himself but there's not a change in the god who is shown finally then before we get to hebrews 6 briefly james 1 17. james says that god says that every good and perfect gift is from above coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to turning or shifting shadow that god is not fickle that he is not changing there is no shadow due to turning in god let me say something about the gifts briefly every good thing given every perfect gift is from above there's variety in the gifts he gives to all life breath and all things he doesn't give those in equal measure to every person across all time god distributes his gifts sometimes in abundance sometimes he withholds his gifts to teach us some lesson or to punish the wicked he gives breath he withdraws breath every good and perfect gift of which there are many and in which there is variation and change comes down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation in change god's demonstration and god's dealings with you may change puritans used to talk about dark providences dark providences it's not always sunshine this morning it was cloudy i was i'm in florida i'm from philly i wanted sunshine god wanted me to have cloudy a cloudy morning a damp morning the gifts may be variegated and change every good and perfect gift many and changing come down from him but don't read off of the changes in his dealings and his administration a change in him don't think that god himself is changing why this is important hebrews chapter 6 hebrews chapter 6. this epistle is written to people that are facing arguably um stiff headwinds of cultural adversity for their faith their faith is considered um dangerous and sectarian and the temptation for some who profess christ is to seek refuge back in judaism judaism was a tolerated and safe place within the roman empire and the temptation for those who have professed christ as the fulfillment of all god's promises is to simply take cover from the hostile winds the ill winds blowing against them back in judaism the argument throughout the epistle is that jesus is better don't leave the fulfillment don't leave the don't leave the substance for the shadows and for the types don't live as if jesus isn't god's yes to all of his promises a better priest offering a better sacrifice ratifying a better covenant if you take shelter in judaism you will in effect be obscuring the testimony of the glory of christ jesus but the political pressures are acute and the the people that temptation is due to a distrust in the promises of god and so the writer is trying to fortify their courage and their confidence of what god is doing in christ jesus and what he promises yet to do in christ jesus and he invokes divine immutability to undergird their faith listen to what he says i'll start in i'll start in verse 13. he said just before that to be imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises faith is not seen it will be sight one day but it's not sight now um that's what the people need they are believing in precious promises which they do not yet fully hold in their possession a kingdom an inheritance with god requires patience verse 13 for when god made the promise to abraham since he could swear by no one greater he swore by himself this is important verse 14 saying surely i will bless you and i will surely multiply you so having patiently waited he that is abraham obtained the promise and then the writer sort of goes into a parenthesis here talking about this whole thing about swearing why does god need to set why would god say i swear by god i don't say that trivially god says that i swear by god i swear by myself now let's talk about this for a moment for men swear by one greater than themselves is the idea by one greater and with them an oath is given as confirmation as confirmation is an end to every dispute so as it is among men we make promises we give assurances and someone might say to me why should i believe you what confidence can i have in your word and we take an oath we invoke an oath in something that is stable or should be stable so we ground our words on a basis a foundation that connotes stability okay so if i were to say to you i sw i swear to you by the fog bank outside that i'll give you a hundred dollars i'm hoping i'm not a meteorologist i'm hoping that at noon i'll be off the hook because the fog will be gone you know what i'm after i rooted my words on something ethereal something shifty something transient and to the extent that my word is grounded on something shifty and changing my word is to just that extent shifty and changing and not deserving of your confidence and so you swear by the things that remain and you swear perhaps and in the older days they would swear by human institute you don't swear by the sand on the seashore it gets washed in and out you don't swear by the fog or the clouds in the sky they blow away um but you you might relatively speaking swear by mount st helens oh but then the top blows off and the emblematically the idea is to just that extent my whatever was grounded on that thing that changed is itself then changeable so god swear we swear by one greater than ourselves um and then he says but god could not swear by one greater because there's no one greater he swears by himself what he's doing is he's giving us many precious promises that are yes in christ jesus some of those have come into our possession others we wait for in hope what he says is this you can trust me because i myself am the ground the foundation the stability of the promises that i give well that's great see i could do that i could swear by myself to you but that's not a very sure foundation i could i could i have a heart attack before i get out from behind this pulpit um you know you can think of it this way if someone the boss offers you a job and says hey um we're going to give you a you know you're making 15 bucks an hour we're gonna we're gonna bump you up to 25 bucks an hour tell you what um he says that to you on friday afternoon why don't you come in monday morning uh we'll talk about it and uh i promise you the company's gonna do this then you get the news on saturday that your boss died of a massive heart attack and you show up monday you come to the office say i had like my raise i was promised 10 bucks uh they're going to look at you and say by who where's the stability in other words he may have given you assurances but he can't even assure himself of his own being of his own life see this god says he swears by himself he says you can trust me because i myself and the foundation of my words and i think there's something going on here many will want to say that divine immutability is just nothing but the consistency of god's character i want to say that that's a fruit of immutability the constancy of his character so i could say you know let's just go back to mount st helens mount st helens had a great track record until it didn't you know what i'm after in other words it had a good history and i could say reasonably speaking you could go hiking up there okay but i can't guarantee the top won't blow the point of god's the point of god's immutability is not constancy of character absolutely and the bible repeatedly points us to his faithfulness over long durations of time to his covenants and we are to take consolation in that but remember that faithfulness itself is actually grounded even more deeply on the very on on the very being of god so god's immutability isn't just the fact that he's got a great track record of faithfulness for 10 000 years god's im god's immutability is in fact that unchangeable fullness of being that just is himself upon which his faithfulness in covenant and promise and injustice and wrath is based so listen to what he says in verse 17. in the same way god desiring even more to show the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of his purpose interposed with an oath god doesn't need to take an oath god doesn't need to swear by anything but because we are accustomed to giving grounding and foundations for words and promises god accommodates us and he swears by himself and he doesn't swore by himself because he needs to he swears by himself because it helps you because it helps me so that verse 18 by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for god to lie i think these are his word and himself we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us the writer does not say by two unchanging things so let me let me be just a little bit narrow here things can be unchanging without being unchangeable there's a difference one just simply says it hasn't changed yet the other one says it could never change he said it's the latter that the writer uses here a metathetone the one who is not just unchanging but unchangeable just hasn't happened to change yet cannot change so that by two unchangeable things now what's the point of all this that we who have taken refuge we've sung a number of songs this week about refuge and some of us are feeling uh serious pressure socially culturally right now and we are being reminded that our rock and our refuge is god but here's the thing we don't want a rock in a refuge that's shifty we don't want to rock in a refuge that's movable i need a rock and a refuge that isn't going anywhere that can't go anywhere they can't change and i need that rock and that refuge to ground that unmovable nest of god to ground my hope right now right now listen to what he says so that this is a purpose clause by two unchangeable things we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement strong can i just tell you this to the extent god is mutable your encouragement should thereby be weakened to the extent that god is actualized by changes that come upon him to that extent your confidence in him should to be depleted but you need strong encouragement particularly when the winds of adversity in the world are strong you need immutability for this that we would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us this is the hope we have as an anchor of the soul of hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil where jesus has entered as a forerunner for us having become a high priest forever according to the order of melchizedek well what how am i supposed to expect that to do anything for me because that is the fulfillment and the enactment of god's promises and all that god promises and all that is supposed to come out of jesus's high priesthood to your good is in fact rooted and grounded in the not unchangingness which is true in the unchangeableness of god um these things are worthy of abstract contemplation and i i i'll let me put one word in for um abstract thought abstract thought is not meant to just simply stay out there in abstraction abstract thought is so that we can get some true characterization of things that are concrete realities we may think abstractly but we bring that because we do but we can bring that to bear on a reality the being of god the is-ness of god the unchangeableness of god god not made to be that is the basis of our encouragement without that no creation without that no redemption without that no confidence in his promises without that no strong encouragement in a difficult world how about this without that nothing quinon let's pray god you are good you do good you have given us many precious promises in christ jesus in whom they are all yes and our amen is to you through him lord we bless you that you are the unchanging god that with you there is no variation or shadow due to turning that while all the world around us turns and shifts you are our rock and our refuge who is immutable lord i pray for each of us here that you would give us a renewed and abiding sense and confidence and joy in this immutability of you whose name is i am lord we we are not sufficient to comprehend these things but we do believe them encourage our hearts and forgive our unbelief and help our unbelief and give us a renewed confidence in the unchangeableness of your being we bless you and thank you for condescending and swearing by yourself or give us that strong encouragement to lay hold of the hope that you have promised to us we prayed in christ's name

Channel: Founders Ministries

Views: 2,093

Rating: 4.9322033 out of 5

Keywords: Founders Ministries, Tom Ascol, Jared Longshore, Founders, Reformed Theology, Theology, Reformed Baptist, Calvinism, Historic Baptist, Confessional Baptist, 1689 Confession, Christianity, Christian Ministry, Reformed, Educational, James Dolezal, The unchanging God, The doctrine of God, The doctrine of god, divine simplicity, theology proper, the only god, james dolezal divine simplicity, national founders conference, james dolezal impassibility, founders conference 2021, NFC21

Id: OjgI_Ejua3I

Length: 51min 46sec (3106 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 25 2021